Hiya all you gorgeous babes~
This one's bit short, because I tried to dialogue and for some reason, writing people talking at eachother is hard. idk why. Then it went off into more angst. I'm so sorry. I DONT WANT TO ANGST. It just happens. I swear i have absolutely no control over where this goes. I want sunshine and its all just like HURRICANE.
Please bear with me for a little while longer. The storm has to pass eventually.
My first thought was 'he looks so old'.
My second was 'they've killed him'.
He was pale, under that sun-kissed skin of his. Like he was ill.
Skin stretched tight over his cheeks and creasing at the corners of his eyes. Those were not laugh lines.
(My boy, my precious son, what have they done to you?)
His eyes were dim and weary and there was pain in them and something fragile, breakable. He was so strong. Had always been strong. Like that cursed lightning, I suddenly knew.
If I turned him away now, he would crumble. Something terrible had happened to him and now he just looked...lost.
I staggered over to him, vision blurring. He was so tall now, must have grown another inch at least (so why did he seem so small?) he was almost bent double over me, curling into my embrace, just like when he was a child (he's still a CHILD. How DARE THEY).
I pressed my head against his chest and listened to his heat beat.
He's alive.
My voice shook.
"Welcome home"
~~~∞Ω∞~~~
There is nothing quite like sitting with your mother as a son whose been absent for five months, with the closest thing you've got to a childhood friend and two strangers announced as close friends, in perfect dead silence, sipping at drinks and awkwardly munching on an eclectic array of nibbles scrounged up from the fridge and cupboards.
My mom hadn't let go of me once and was pressed close next to me with her arm wrapped around my waist and mine gently framing the curve of her shoulders (she didn't realise, but her fingers were clenched bruise-tight on my hip. The marks would heal within minutes once she let go, so mom would never know. I wasn't going to say anything, not with her shoulders shaking like that. Not like I don't deserve so much worse. How can she stand to touch me at all?).
Paul sighed and got up quietly, "I'll get out the spare bedding and set it up okay?" guilt twinged in my stomach, he looked so tired.
I coughed to clear the lump in my throat, "It's alright, I can do that. You should go back to sleep, don't you have class tomorrow?" When did Goode break up again? I'd been there. I'd been attending there five months before. Five months. When the world looked so bright and the future hopeful. When I had Annabeth and she had me. It seems so distant, intangible like fingers through smoke (smoke, whisps of acrid smoke, feels like all that's left though Rage still Burns in that desperate corner of my mind that NeVeR sToPs SCREAMING).
He breathed a laugh, something odd in his eyes, "No kid, it's the least I can do, and summer vacation just started last week." he hesitated, then firmly clasped my shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Percy. You were missed." Something warm unfurled in my chest, while something cold and heavy sunk in my stomach. A sad, quiet voice whispering in my ear said, 'Do you know who you were missing? Because I don't feel like the person I was...and I don't think I can ever be someone like that again.'
Is it okay not to be the person everyone around you thinks you are?
Is it lying when everyone accepts the body of a ghost?
~~~∞Ω∞~~~
A piercing wail shattered the silence.
I lunged towards the source, vaulting over the table, sword in hand-
"Percy, no!"
-Piper and Jason moving, responding, drawing weapons, tooslowtooslow, Grover, Mom; untrained, no instinct. Monsters. Monsters must have found usmemine, mom, Paul; vulnerable. Protect.
I was at the door (threat hidden, protectFIGHTkilleliminate, savethemsavethemSAVETHEM, beforethey'regonetoo ), heart ponding in my ears, fire flaring in my blood/blade/soul/hands/eyes and yanked it open, Riptide leading to slashstabslay-
...Pink. And Blue. Orange. Mauve (No Pery, they're not both just 'purple', lilac, mauve and lavender are entirely separate shades. It happens in blue as well. Yes, really. Every colour has shades Seaweed Brain). Yellow. Pastels. Like a sunrise over the ocean. Seashell chime strung up from the ceiling, spiralling down to- a cot.
Oh.
My baby sister.
I HAVE A BABY SISTER!
(Ah, of course, she would have been born by now wouldn't she? Mom was in her third trimester, Paul, Annabeth and I had painted the walls -a whole array, just pale enough to not be garish, "there are more colours than just pink, I gave you the freedom to explore the colours of the world without the pressure of gender stereotypes, an I'll do the same for this little one too."- and decorated –blankets, toys, smooth shells and shimmering veils- before Hera ripped it all away.
She was crying.
My sword dropped and she was cradled in my arms by the time the others came crashing through the doorway.
I knew them. They were safe. More important was my distressed baby sis. I'd taken classes with Paul (a lifetime ago) about this stuff, so I held her close to my heart (always) and gently jogged her up and down, stroking her spine and shushing her as soothingly as I could. Mom appeared next to me with a bottle, handing it to me with a watery smile. Baby sis latched on instantly with her tiny little hands coming up to hold the bottle with me and her eyes blinking up at me. They were sea-green. Huh. Apparently, my eyes aren't from Poseidon after all, because that's definitely Pauls salt-and-pepper hair on her perfect little head.
When she was done, Mom took her and did the burping then cradled her in one arm, the other tugging me closer. I tickled her belly gently (gently, gently) and looked at my amazing mom, "what's her name?"
Her eyes crinkled and sparkle with saltwater, "Estelle." she bumped Baby-Estelle up higher to face me, "Estelle Blue Blofis, meet your big brother, Perseus Jackson"
I grinned crookedly at her, "Heya Baby Star, I'm Percy." And I would die to keep you safe.
My face ached slightly, it suddenly hit me that I hadn't smiled, properly, since A-in months. Surprisingly, it felt alright. She wouldn't want me to wreck myself over her de ...being gone (she'd also want to be Alive, bit you couldn't quite manage that could you?).
~~~∞Ω∞~~~
By the time the Blue-Fish had dozed off, Paul had set Jason, Grover and me up with pillows and sleeping bags in the living room and Piper up in mine, despite her protests. I stared up at the semi-familiar ceiling and wished for, for... (home) somewhere else. The white stone and driftwood timber ceiling of Cabin 3? The mosaic of the Fifth Cohort Barracks I'd only spent three nights in? My own room here, just next-door? Maybe the living metal and warm wood of the Argo II. Maybe the open night sky, watched over by Zoë set among the stars. All of them. None of them. A place to feel safe and free...
I woke hours later, for once without a cold sweat and a scream in my throat. Always a good thing.
Mom was making pancakes, thick and delicious-smelling. I staggered over and reached for a plate to pile high with blueberry pancakes, blue disks of deliciousness, superior to all other breakfast foods, better than ambrosia, so great that-
"Perseus Jackson, what is that on your arm."
I looked at my mom. She was looking at my sword-arm. I looked at my sword-arm. It was still attached. Not even injured or anything. I mean, my nails were still nubs from when I scrabbled against the rock to gain purchase when we were keeping the Doors of Death shut and climbing cliffs by the Phlegethon and falling into Tartarus (No. Notgoingtherenowmoveon)… but Hazel and Piper had tidied up the ragged edges and there were a few new/old silver scars and my Legion tattoo, but-
Ah.
Well, dam.
I hunched down slightly and cocked my head to the side (bared neck, submission and supplication. For all Lupa had failed to turn me into a proper Roman, she sure had instilled lupine body language and pack dynamics into my hindbrain), "Um, Mom, well, uh...so after Hera kidnapped me and wiped my memories"
"She did what." Okay, that was terrifying. Hades hath no fury like Sally Blofis neé Jackson scorned. I swear her warm chocolate-brown eyes were gleaming with ice blue rage. Moving swiftly onwards, befre my mom storms Olympus to cut a bitch.
"I ended up at the Roman training centre, the Wolf House and then at thee Roman Camp/City thing Camp Jupiter. The Roman aspects are a thing as well and Roman-Hera, Juno, kinda got me to carry her over the territory line whileiwasbeingchasedbysomemonsters which was the Little Tiber River, which washedaawaytheCurseofAchilles and so I joined the Legion and met Frank and Hazel (they're awesome by the way), then there was this quest and a battle and I got elected Praetor (co-leader of the Twelfth Legion of Rome with Reyna, who is totally badass and I didn't know I knew from Circe's Island) then A-Anna-" my voice broke off. I breathed "Wise-Girl found me with some Greeks like Piper and sort-of Jason, stuff happened and we ended up on the run and sort-of questing and Wise-Girl broke off because Athena-" he tried not to spit the name, but definitely, one-hundred percent failed, "decided my Wise-Girl needed to prove her worth and when we got her back, there was a Pit and-" the sound of shattering porcelain broke me out of the trance-like feverish diatribe I had slipped into. I looked down at my hand. The shards had cut into it a bit deeply. It was also on fire. The rich purple flames almost obscured the crimson of the blood (my life-blood, bright red like Annabeth's) and were healing the cuts. Forcing splinters out from within. It hurt, distantly. Not much, I'd had so much worse, after all. Then it was healed, leaving faintly pink skin and drying scarlet rivulets, like river delta. The trails burred. My clean hand (taintedsulliedstained, dripping blood you just can't see) swiped at my eyes and came away wet. Oh. Why was I crying?
Arms closed around me.
I slightly-tensed, would have lashed out, but they were safe. Soothing-cool-home-water-kin-lake-safe. My chest burned it hurt there's no air I'm drowning I can't see the worlds blurring moreandmoreandmore darknessclosinginearthclosingabovemyheadpoisonedwatermiserywaterscreamingvoicesofloahingguiltgriefAklyspoisonriversstreamsblooddarknessclosinginshadowsdangermonsterslurkingLabrynthHadesTartarus-
~~~∞Ω∞~~~
Sally Jackson eased her son into Tranquillity-induced sleep and his lax form into his friend Jason's arms, who took him into the living room and lay him comfortably onto the only couch. She knew Percy would never allow anyone he wouldn't trust with their lives into the apartment, but it certainly made her more approving of the tall blond soldier with –now that she was looking, she saw- a similar tattoo on his forearm, though with an eagle, rather than a trident, under the lettering and many, many more lines inked into his flesh. She forcefully turned her mind away from the implication. It would only upset her (make her Rage).
She closed her eyes and allowed herself the span of three breaths and the gently lapping of her own Rain lake-waters to soothe the turmoil in her mind and emotions.
When she was done, she turned to her son's oldest friend and saw such crushing grief and bleeding raw sympathy in him that she almost bit her tongue. But no. She had to know to be able to address the situation she found herself (her son) in. There is a time for peace-keeping and mercy. But every-when else is for cruelty and viciousness. Knowledge is power, an information paves the path of survival.
Above all else, the Underground had taught her this.
Cliffhanger!
Do you hate me yet? I didn't even get half the thing I planned for this chapter done, but I thought, 'ah well, I'll be cruel to all the lovely people giving this their time. No regrets'. It's late too. For absolutely no good reason. Just my procrastination.
Anyway, as per last chapter, please feel free (please) to tell me about places you want on the (eventual) travel montage. If not then maybe a specific situation? Or whatever. If I don't use it in the (kinda) immediate future, I might save it for later on down the line.
Ciao~